A Look at the Parking Rules Violation in Pakistan

Parking has been a big problem in Pakistan, especially in big cities like Karachi and Lahore. It’s quite a challenge to get a good place to park, especially when you are out with family. Parking is also a primary reason for majority of the traffic jams.

Car Being Lifted by Police

Motorcycles parked in front of a walkway.

People often leave their cars parked wrongly, taking up the parking space of two cars. Some in fact park their cars behind other cars, blocking them completely. Wrong parking has caused many people a lot of inconvenience. People who are in a hurry or those who need to get to a place in urgency are delayed just because their car is blocked by a car that is wrongly parked. Motorcyclists also have a habit of parking their bikes right behind already parked cars, blocking them from backing up. Wrong parking frustrates drivers a lot and in most cases, causes road rage. I have witnessed people fighting because of wrong parking.

It is unfortunate that the traffic police does very little on educating drivers on parking. In fact, the government and development authorities of major cities approve the construction of multi-storey plazas without checking if they provide proper parking places. The government needs to provide parking plazas to resolve this issue.

Car parked wrong

The number of cars on the roads is expected to double drastically over the coming years. The government needs to construct more parking plazas and the traffic police needs to implement strict laws on wrong parking.

The traffic police does little other than pouncing on some unaware motorcyclists and charging them 50 rupee diesel kharcha.

“the government and development authorities of major cities approve the construction of multi-storey plazas without checking if they provide proper parking places”

There are usually 2 drawing sets. One is for approval and the other is for actual work. If some inspector comes around to actually check, he/she is bribed to the mouth and that’s all.

BTW, the world over, the shopping plaza need not have enough parking for everybody. Rather, government keeps large plots vacant and converts them into parking lots as needed. The shopping plaza has only enough parking for themselves. The bulk of the parking is provided elsewhere by the government.

But even with all the parking provided, the people who wish to double park, will double park at all costs.